Stuck in Your Head
by icyboots
Summary: This was something right out of one of those comics he liked to read as a child. A possibility he thought about in passing, never to be addressed again. He could read minds. Sephiroth/Cloud. Semi-AU. Oneshot for asreoninfusion.


This is a gift fic for asreoninfusion. When I asked for details, she said she would like some fluff, so I hope she'll like this :) (even though I'm not sure if it can be considered as fluff).

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><p><strong>Stuck in Your Head<strong>

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><p>After years of trying and failing, Cloud figured that he just wasn't cut out to join SOLDIER. And after a couple of missions with dubious intentions he was tasked while being an infantryman, he decided that he wasn't cut out for ShinRa at all.<p>

It was still surprising, though, that he became a Materia-salesman in a shack at Sector 4. He thought himself too unlucky to land himself on a steady job let alone one he actually liked - well, his boss could've been less of a douche but _still_.

Cloud, in an almost unhealthy way, was always interested in Materia. He could hold his own against foes for a while, but he would eventually slip and lose, face bruised and ribs probably broken.

Materia didn't need physical strength as much as it needed patience and a will to try and try again. Couple that with the unexpected results that could come up with different combinations, and Cloud knew he was hooked on learning more.

The Materia he was holding now - obtained after an exchange with a strange-looking but kind old man - was a little odd, though, its color too leaning on orange to be a normal Command Materia.

He didn't have the chance to use Materia often before this job - couldn't do anything but study them from textbooks - and from his experience, he knew that blacking out after trying to use one for the first time _definitely_ shouldn't have happened.

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><p><em>'Don't tell me that he died on me.'<em>

Cloud woke up at that, his confusion about that statement overriding his disoriented state. Sitting up, he saw that he was on the shack's floor, his boss looking in annoyance at him. "What the hell happened, boy?"

Cloud scowled. How many times did he have to remind him that he was _twenty one_. "I don't know, I was trying this-"

His boss interrupted him. "Forget it and get the fuck back to work." _'He'd tell me the story of his life if I let him. If he wasn't so good at using Materia, I would've fired his ass ages ago.'_

Cloud was too shocked to say anything but a simple, "Excuse me?"

"Get back to work!" _'I swear he could be so fucking useless sometimes.'_

It was then that Cloud realized that the second statement wasn't spoken aloud.

What the hell?

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><p>This was something right out of one of those comics he liked to read as a child. A possibility he thought about in passing, never to be addressed again.<p>

He could read minds.

It was a painful ordeal at first, many thoughts and voices ringing loudly in his head as he tried to go on with his day as if nothing changed. He checked that mysterious Materia numerous of times, but it refused to even work let alone reverse whatever thing that happened to him.

Cloud had no choice but to cope and adapt, slowly getting familiar with this newly-acquired ability.

He learned that if he put his focus on only one person, the other voices would fade to the background, making it significantly more quiet for him.

He picked that one person randomly - or maybe he picked those he thought were interesting. He tried his hardest not to interfere unless the thoughts he heard were of malicious intentions, or to take advantage of it.

He was a private and sort of reserved person who stayed out of things that weren't his business, so to be cursed - or blessed, as some would think - with this was painfully ironic.

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><p>Monster attacks were increasing below the plates, and the fact that ShinRa was actually concerned enough to send SOLDIERs to deal with them told of how serious the situation was.<p>

Cloud had never seen 1st class Sephiroth personally before; his previous rank wasn't high enough to be able to do so. And even if he was assigned to missions along with SOLDIERs, they never turned out to be him.

But here Sephiroth was, fighting some weird, half-formed monster right in front of the shack he worked at.

As he watched Sephiroth effortlessly removing the horde of monsters from existence, Cloud could literally feel his awkward teenage crush returning in such intensity that made him think it never really left.

He knew that he was kind of... staring, and probably should stop doing so before Sephiroth caught him and well... awkwardness ensued.

_'They're backing away.'_

Cloud paused, looking around to see that the bystanders were, indeed, backing away - the fear in their eyes now more evident even when the threat of monsters was eliminated.

Then it hit him, the fact that they didn't appear to fear the monsters as much as they feared Sephiroth.

_'Of course...'_

One of things he learned from his ability to read minds was that people thought in tones of voices in their minds the same way they did outside of them.

The tone of voice in Sephiroth's mind - and it _was_ Sephiroth he was hearing; he probably focused on him unconsciously as he ogled him shamelessly - was resigned, almost bitter in its amusement.

They were sentiments, although different in context, he related to in a way - once upon a time back in Nibelheim and ShinRa.

And maybe that was the reason why Cloud called out to him, "Sir, are you interested in buying some Materia? We've got a new set."

Sephiroth turned around at that, a fine eyebrow raised in confusion.

So maybe calling a guy to offer him to buy new Materia after seeing him utterly destroying his assailants using his own wasn't the best way to make an impression.

"Not at the moment," Sephiroth answered curtly.

Unfathomably not as discouraged as he should've been, Cloud gave a slight shrug before he replied, "Feel free to visit if you want some." Wait, that came out wrong. "We make great deals," he quickly amended.

Sephiroth looked at him in consideration for a moment, nodding and then leaving in the next.

It wasn't as if Cloud was expecting for him to take his offer. Still, he wished this exchange had gone on differently...

_'What a strange fellow...'_ Cloud heard. It was a faint thought, but not so much that he couldn't distinguish the vague amusement, the bitterness washed away from it.

... or maybe not.

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><p>Cloud loved his job, really. He loved to explore the different sectors and hunt for Materia in them, and at the end of every month, going outside of Midgar on a quest to find new ones. He loved it all, except for the slow days where he was stuck at the shack with nothing else to do but guard it. It reminded him of his ShinRa days, just blessedly less on the truck-riding aspect.<p>

It was so like his luck, then, that someone stood in front of the shack, just when he thought of taking a short nap.

With a sigh, he removed the newspaper he was previously reading out of boredom from his face, blinking rapidly as he took in the potential customer.

It was Sephiroth. He was actually here, eying the sets of Materia on display with interest. "Are you open?" _'Should I leave?'_

Cloud almost tripped on himself in his haste to reply, "No, I mean _yes_, we're open. What can I help you with?"

"Depends on what you have," was the reply.

The awe somewhat faded at that. _ Oh, so he wants me to prove that I know my business_. Cloud wasn't really offended; he had many customers do the same - only less subtle and more along the lines of: _'What the hell is a brat like you doing selling Materia?'_

He proved every single one of them wrong, and this case wasn't going to be different. "Alright, so here we have the basic Materia..."

Cloud knew that Sephiroth didn't really need the explanations and demonstration he was making, but it was a slow day and this was the most productive he felt ever since waking up this morning.

_'He's rather passionate about this...'_

Too focused on determining the tone of Sephiroth's thought - was it out of boredom or just genuine surprise? - he didn't realize that he paused until Sephiroth prompted him to continue.

_'It's... endearing.'_

Even utterly shocked, Cloud refused to allow the Materia he was holding to drop.

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><p>Sephiroth just kept coming back, and even after reading his mind - Cloud long since accepted that he'd always fixate on Sephiroth no matter how much he willed his reach to stray - Cloud couldn't understand why he would. Sephiroth would intently listen to him rambling about the newest find, and in exchange, Cloud would settle with listening to the precious few facts Sephiroth shared about his day before picking the one Materia that interested him the most and leaving.<p>

He never thought there would come a day where he and Sephiroth would be considered as acquaintances.

Without even needing to look, Cloud knew that Sephiroth was standing behind him, punctual as always.

"You're closing early?" Sephiroth asked upon seeing him securing the shack's locks.

"Yeah. I go to hunt for new finds at the end of every month, so I won't be around for a couple of days." He looked up from the bangle he was inserting his own Materia into to add, "Boss will be selling instead of me, though."

"I see," '_Would he mind if I asked to tag along? Work has been slow these days.'_

If there was anything Cloud learned from reading into Sephiroth's mind, it was that he thought in the same reservedness as he was on the outside. Also, he was kind of... _awkward_, and usually didn't ask for what he wanted.

So Cloud took it upon himself to voice the other's thoughts aloud. "You can come along if you want, I'd appreciate the company."

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><p>He didn't know if having Sephiroth with him was affecting his luck positively, but Cloud wasn't going to question it - not when the result was many rare Materia findings.<p>

It was the most successful and easy trip he'd made; probably because he wasn't all on his own against the wild monsters. Though he was kind of miffed the few times where Sephiroth focused on protecting him instead of himself.

"I can handle myself, you know, I've been doing this for a while now." While he did have a crush on the guy - though he suspected his feelings went beyond that to refer them as such anymore - he wasn't going to put up with being treated as if he were helpless, a liability.

"I know," Sephiroth responded as he finished off the last of the monsters. _'I just keep doing it unconsciously.'_

Cloud's features softened at that. "Well be sure to remind yourself of that next time, or else I'll start to think that you're afraid that I'll outshine you."

Sephiroth broke into an amused smirk. "Now you're just dreaming, Strife."

"You can never be too sure." Cloud shrugged before laughing at image that came into mind of him being recognized as the best and Sephiroth at the corner, seething in envy.

_'Gaia, he's attractive.'_

Cloud's laughing turned into choking, and his face flushed bright red. He... he couldn't have possibly heard _that_. He probably mixed his wishful fantasies with what Sephiroth really thought - they were _a lot_, after all. Frustratingly realistic, too.

He calmed down a bit after Sephiroth asked him if he was alright, his expression giving nothing away to the thought he heard - _or didn't hear. Pull your-fucking-self together, Cloud!_

He walked away, pretending that he caught something of interest from the corner of his eye, and leaving a very confused Sephiroth behind.

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><p>"I gotta admit, this is my favorite part when I go out of Midgar for a hunt, sitting here and not having to worry about anything or anyone," Cloud said, inwardly thinking if it was appropriate to use the fire Materia he recently found to light camp-fire. "What's your favorite part? When doing a mission, I mean."<p>

"I have no favorite part," Sephiroth - who apparently sensed his inner conflict as he brought out his own Materia and lit the camp-fire without thinking twice about it - replied.

"There has to be something, though," Cloud mused absently, fishing out some marshmallows.

_'I don't enjoy the things I'm tasked to do, or the empty praises after I'm done with them but...'_ Sephiroth stayed quiet for a moment before he said, "... I like going to new places."

Even if Cloud got inside Sephiroth's mind many times before, he only caught glimpses of how unhappy yet resigning he was about his life.

He was glad, though, that there were at least a few things Sephiroth liked about it - like his SOLDIER friends; they seemed to be a colorful bunch from the way he had described them. "That's a nice thing to like." Cloud smiled.

For the briefest moment, Cloud thought he saw Sephiroth smiling as he said, "This is nice, too."

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><p><em>'I wonder what kissing him would feel like.'<em>

Either his fantasies were becoming even more realistic than they had any right to be, or this was real and Sephiroth was actually thinking those thoughts.

Ever since that hunting-trip, those kinds of thoughts had been making guest appearances in Sephiroth's mind, making Cloud fumble and stumble as a result. It took Sephiroth musing reverently about his ass for Cloud to decide that maybe he was onto something here - of course, after barely escaping the threat of a heart attack.

Okay, review:

He was definitely interested in Sephiroth, and apparently, Sephiroth was interested in him. Why not ask him out then?

And that was the point where his joy faded and got replaced by doubt.

If Sephiroth was interested, why didn't he show it? If Cloud didn't have the ability to read his mind, he would've probably never known.

And speaking about mind-reading, was it really fair of him to not tell Sephiroth that he knew what he thought about? Random strangers were okay because he didn't know them personally and probably never saw them again. But he became a sort of a friend to Sephiroth - and by cheating, too, he realized.

No, it wasn't fair at all. What if the reason Sephiroth felt attracted to him was because he thought he was this insightful soul who knew exactly what to say?

Without realizing it - or maybe, simply ignoring it - Cloud did the exact thing he promised himself to never do when he came to terms with having the ability to read minds: he took advantage.

It was painful to look at Sephiroth in the eye, but he had to do this before anything else - well, if there was going to be anything else after this. "I can read your mind."

Sephiroth blinked. "What?"

"I can read your mind," Cloud repeated with more force. "Everything you thought about while you were with me, I heard it."

Sephiroth didn't seem like he believed him. If anything, he looked offended. "That's highly unlik-"

"You keep your hair long because you once heard an off-hand comment that it reminded people of your mother's." It really hurt to see, how Sephiroth's expression slowly turned from shocked to betrayed.

"What do you want from me?" Well, Sephiroth looked pissed. Maybe the fact that he now had him pinned against a wall - not even in the good way, he mused humorlessly - should've been enough clue, though.

"Nothing."

"You know what I keep hidden, and you want me to believe that you desire nothing in exchange?" Sephiroth's grip on his shirt tightened - not tight enough to hurt, he noticed.

"All I want from you, Sephiroth, is the freedom to tell you that I want you." He had nothing to lose, so admitting this hadn't been as difficult as he imagined. "I think you're attractive. I wondered what it'd feel like to kiss you ever since I was fourteen, and I think your ass looks fantastic, even if the coat is blocking the view."

The last time Cloud apologized was back when he was nine. This moment felt like a perfect one to break twelve years of unapologetic rebellion. "You might not believe me when I say this, but I'm sorry, Sephiroth."

Sephiroth's grip on his shirt loosened. He looked at him for what seemed to be an eternity - searchingly - before turning away and leaving without uttering another word, leaving him to slump back to the wall with a heavy sigh.

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><p>Two weeks had passed since he last saw Sephiroth.<p>

Well, what did he expect? People didn't usually take the invasion of their privacy lightly - even if it was unintentional on his part. His days now were full of unfamiliar thoughts, and it was kind of messed up that he missed Sephiroth's mind as much as the man himself.

His boss, upon noticing, didn't even let it linger in his thoughts, bluntly asking him, "What the fuck are you moping about now?"

"I'm not moping." It was a lie and Cloud knew it, but he didn't want to admit that he cared too much. He scowled. "And what do you mean no-"

"May I have a word with you, Strife?" an achingly familiar voice asked, not in the same warmth and affection as in the daydreams he mused about in embarrassing frequency.

There Sephiroth stood, all tall and awe-inspiring and captivating, the same way he looked a couple of weeks ago.

Cloud didn't know when he stopped staring in shock. "Sure," he replied, as nonchalant as he could be. "I'll be back in a few." He didn't wait to hear what his boss had to say about this self-given break, and frankly Cloud didn't care to find out.

"How are you doing?" Cloud couldn't believe it. Were they really going to do this? Were they really going to exchange pleasantries?

Sephiroth appeared to be waiting for an answer, so yes, they were. "Fine? You?"

"The same." Silence fell between them, and Cloud was going to say something - anything - to break it when Sephiroth asked, all in a musing-aloud fashion, "Do you know what I'm thinking about now?"

So they were finally going to address this. "I honestly have no idea." Sephiroth looked surprised at that, so Cloud took it as his cue to continue, "I learned how to block people's thoughts. It doesn't work most of the time but it's working now."

Sephiroth paused, seeming to take what he revealed in, and simply said in response, "Read me."

Okay, this was not what he was expecting. "What? Why?"

"Read me," Sephiroth repeated, and Cloud obliged, the part of him that was in sync with his Telepathy - was that what it was called? - all-too-eager to reach out.

_'It's rather foolish of me, but I believe you're sincere in your intentions.'_ It had a different flavor, being addressed directly in someone's thoughts - deeper, more intimate. _'You did mope for a while after I left.'_

Cloud was about to ask him about how he could've known before he caught himself. "I didn't _mope_."

"Keep telling yourself that." He would've been glad about the teasing smirk Sephiroth had if he wasn't so annoyed.

But still, this whole exchange was a good sign. "So does this mean that things will be back to the way they were between us? Because I got some new Materia to show you."

"Not quite," Sephiroth replied before pulling him forward and kissing him.

It was a short, gentle kiss, not the kind he ever imagined receiving from Sephiroth. Said man smiled after they parted. "Now we both know..."

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><p>Only a few moments later, they kissed again, this time rough and raw and heated. The pleasure that was coursing through his veins was amplified by Sephiroth's thoughts, all his held-back desires and fantasies, all his frustration and longing, all the images of the things he'd do to him if they were in a place that was a little less crowded swimming in his head, the sheer intensity of them making him groan.<p>

The need for air was becoming increasingly loathsome, but it was still necessary, both of them panting harshly as a result. Cloud ran his finger through his hair in an attempt to calm himself, all while Sephiroth didn't even bother, fixing him with a lidded, desirous look that made his efforts futile. "This is proving to be fun."

And then Cloud realized that Sephiroth was doing it on purpose, that he was enjoying undoing him with his thoughts only.

As Cloud connected his mouth with Sephiroth's again, he thought that it was the best kind of acceptance he could ever wish for.


End file.
